Video is a Team Sport

This is the hardest message for most photographers to accept. You cannot truly make a professional video in isolation. Am I saying that one person can’t do everything? No. But can they do it well? Consider the following.

• Video projects often have firm deadlines – Whether it’s an air date, a live event, a corporate meeting, or a project launch. Deadlines are standard in the world of video, having a team means bench strength and safety in numbers.

• You’ll make more money doing what you do best – How many photographers are magazine publishers? Do they sell the advertisements and write all the stories? What about when publishing a book... do they fire up their personal printing press? The point here is that a photographer should do what they do best. That tends to be direct the talent, pick the locations for shooting, lens the project, and carry their creative vision through the editing and graphics stages. I am not saying you should avoid editing or motion graphics, but you may be pretty slow (especially when you first start). I say try anything three times… but if you find you hate the work or you are turning down other jobs... then its time to move on. You can always find people who want to do parts of the job you are weakest at… plus they’ll likely be far faster than you. This will let you shoot more and line up more business through your contacts.

• The creative mind is like a hive – Adding additional people that you trust can really lead to a better product. I find that having other professionals around keeps me from slipping into my old habits. It also leads to creative discussions that push the envelope and lead to a better outcome.
  

I'll be presenting two full sessions to help professional photographers who want to move into video. Come learn the ins and outs of business at the American Society of Media Photographer's Strictly Business 3 Conference (Philadelphia & Chicago).

Maximizing a Production Day

We typically build our production days around a 10-hour schedule. This allows about 7 hours of time for shooting and the other 3 for setup, breaks, and teardown. The important thing here is to pace yourself. Make sure you what you want to accomplish each hour you’re on set so you can measure progress or take corrective action.

While we try to maximize the day, we don’t try to kill the crew … there’s a difference:

• Make sure you have enough help to load gear in and out so you get off to a good start. For that matter, be sure to use a rolling cart to cut down on wear and tear on your body and speed up moving times between locations.
• Be sure to allow time for meal breaks. Keeping people from eating will only make them cranky and less productive. Try to bring some snacks and drinks on the set to keep people comfortable and from wandering off.
• Keep the schedule reasonable. We try to not to let the client schedule the first interview for 8:00 a.m. We’ve often had to convey to the client, “If you schedule this for 8:00 a.m., it means we have to leave our houses at 4:30 a.m. in order to have to everything set up on time.”
• We routinely have to remind clients that an eight-hour day does not mean eight hours of interviews. We also have to point out that it is a contiguous eight hours. You can’t schedule a crew to start at 9:00 a.m., then give them a five hour break in the middle of the day, and want them tape something that goes until 10:00 at night.
• Be sure to work with your clients and gently educate them. Sometimes we’ve had to say, “Yes, we can do this. But we’re going to have two crews and we’re going to have a changeover period here and the second crew will step on to the set and continue into the night.” Be smart: Respect your clients and your crew if you want the best results.

To learn how to make great web video check out Professional Web Video.

All the Creative COW Podcasts on One Page

Just wanted to let you know that you can now find all the Creative COW podcasts on one page. I am a co-host on several shows.

• DSLR Essentials
• Photoshop for Video
• Adobe Premiere Pro
• Adobe After Effects
• Final Cut Help

There are HOURS of free video training here.... plus several other topics. Be sure to check out the page. Most shows are available in both HD and SD versions.

Motion Graphics Salary Survey

If you'd like to better understand the different compensation levels available to motion graphics designers, there's a good report that was just released.

The report analyzes different pay available based on experience, job title, and region worked. There's also good data about tools used (software and hardware) as well as working conditions. As they say, knowledge is power... and the report offers a good glimpse into the factors that can influence better pay and working conditions for designers.

The Motion Graphic Design Census is an unofficial web-based survey written by Bran Dougherty-Johnson and Jake Sargeant and hosted by Motionographer in 2009. Whether you're a designer or a business owner, this is good data for benchmarking.

The 2010 Census is available now.

The 2011 Census is currently collecting data.

Essential Questions to Ask at the Beginning of a Project

Through the years, we’ve learned a lot of lessons the hard way. While every project is unique, it often seems that the problems remain the same. Here are a few questions we always encourage asking at the start of any video project:

• Who is our customer? Projects often have many parties involved. Be sure that you know who you’re responsible to keep happy.
• What is the purpose? You need to know what the video is trying to accomplish.
• How will we measure success? Determine which factors will be used to judge the success of the project.
• What do we want to say? Identify the goal of the piece and the message that the audience should walk away with.
• What resources do we have? Decide who will be assigned to the project. Establish if there are any assets or resources available to the project that should be utilized. Make sure there are no assumptions being made about what you have to work with
• What is the budget? Never discuss approach without having an idea of your financial constraints. Creative types often get swept up into big ideas without knowing what the project can support.
• What are the deadlines? Equally as important as budget is schedule. You need to understand any major milestones so you can schedule work and adjust your approach to match the available time.
• Are there any customer requirements? Never make assumptions. It’s always a good idea to ask the clients if they have any specific needs or requirements for the end product. You’ll often be surprised how important details can go unspoken until the very end of the project.

To learn how to make great web video check out Professional Web Video.

Five Great Resources on Copyright

Do you understand your rights as a content creator? Here are five great resources to learn more (and they are all free)

• Copyright Tutorial – http://asmp.org/tutorials/copyright-overview.html
• Copyright and the New Economy – http://asmp.org/content/registration-counts
• Copyright Basics from U.S. Copyright Office – http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf
• Taking the Mystery Out of Copyright from the Library of Congress – http://www.loc.gov/teachers/copyrightmystery/
• The World Intellectual Property Organization – http://www.wipo.int/copyright/en/

Want Better Web Video? Keep it Short.

Here’s a simple idea: Keep your web videos short. It is better to have ten 4-minute episodes than one 40-minute episode. We try to keep our web videos to less than 10 minutes (in fact less that 5 in almost all cases).

Web videos tend to be consumed during things like work breaks, downtime, and airplane flights. Others will use them during commutes on the morning train or the subway. Think of web video and podcasts as portable, on-demand learning or entertainment. Remember that your audience is often watching web video on portable media players with small screens. Be sure to keep the total run time low to avoid viewer fatigue.

In the training videos we produce, we try to limit topics to one per episode. And if a single topic takes more than 10 minutes to explain, then we’ll split the video into two or three parts. This way the viewer can download Part 1 and start watching it while they’re waiting for the rest to download or be released. There’s nothing wrong with multiple parts. That’s the whole concept of serializing a web video into an actual series that builds up a subscription and viewership base.

To learn how to make great web video check out Professional Web Video.

Your Right to Take Photos of Federal Property

Like to take pictures? Well you may have run afoul of shooting photos of federal buildings (which is pretty easy to do in DC where I live). Here's a useful federal directive that you should print out and put in your camera bag.

Federal Protective Service Information Bulletin of Aug. 2, 2010, emphasizing "the public's right to photograph the exterior of federal facilities" from "publicly accessible spaces such as streets, sidewalks, parks and plazas." It also states that in a field interview, "officers should not seize the camera or its contents, and must be cautious not to give such 'orders' to a photographer to erase the contents of a camera."

Download it here – http://documents.nytimes.com/photographing-federal-buildings-from-public-spaces

Don't Miss the ASMP Strictly Business Conference

I'm speaking at ASMP's Strictly Business Conference. There are two stops left for this great show on business for photographers.

REGISTER HERE FOR PHILADELPHIA or CHICAGO
“The American Society of Media Photographers invites you to the Strictly Business 3 Conferences, the newest generation of this highly acclaimed series.”
FULL CONFERENCE DETAILS
Your registration includes 4 meals, 2 receptions, 2 keynote presentations, 6 workshops and bonus evening sessions. This packed schedule will inspire you and direct your career!
When and Where
February 25-27 in PhiladelphiaApril 1-3 in Chicago

Create Accurate Budgets with a Free Video Budget Template

For video production, the budget is truly king (especially these days). It is important that you create a detailed, line item budget so you have a clear idea of the work involved and the costs associated with the project. Many clients will expect this level of detail in your pricing. You may also find it helpful to share a line item budget with your production team members so they know how much time is budgeted for each task.

1. Open the file Budget_Template.xls. You’ll either need Apple Numbers (part of iWork) or Microsoft Excel. The templates are filled in with several standard labor items for video production tasks.
2. Add rows for tasks as needed since this document is by no means exhaustive. Be sure to add any items you frequently need and delete any items that you never use from the starter template.
3. Adjust the rates for your services. It is beyond the scope of this book to tell you how to price your services. You should do a little market analysis and see what your competition charges for items as well as look at your own internal costs.
4. Once the rates and task items match your internal needs, save the document as a Budget Master for your company.
5. Locate the file on your computer and press Command+I to access its properties.
6. Select the Stationary Pad and Locked check boxes. Now your master budget cannot be overwritten, and when you double-click it, a new blank budget opens as a clean slate.
7. When you’re ready to use the budget, double-click the file to open a new budget. Enter the quantity for all items you expect the project to need.
8. Instead of deleting unused items, simply right-click on a row and choose Hide Row (Numbers) or Hide (Excel).
9. If you want to discount items, just adjust the discount amount in Column E.
10. All items will be subtotaled by category with a budget summary at the bottom of the spreadsheet.
11. Save your budget, and then print or email it as needed. Be sure to save a new version for every change in case you need to compare budgets later in the project.

For more on the fusion of photography and video, check out From Still to Motion.
To learn how to make great web video check out Professional Web Video.